Bridgewater State Faces Endicott in NCAA Women’s Tennis Tournament

By Jim Fenton, The Enterprise (Brockton)

BRIDGEWATER, Mass. -- For the second time in three years, Bridgewater State University will play in the NCAA Div. 3 women’s tennis tournament.

The Bears travel to Brunswick, Maine, to face Endicott College on Friday at 11 a.m. in a regional hosted by Bowdoin College.

BSU went 13-2 and won the Little East Conference championship last fall to earn an automatic berth in the NCAAs.

The Bears, whose only other appearance in the national tourney was in 2007, have gone 63-14 the past five seasons under coach Barry Gorman, losing no more than two matches in each of the last three years.

“The program is really in a great spot right now,’’ said Gorman. “Going to the NCAAs again definitely helps with recruiting. A lot of players want to be part of a program that goes to the NCAAs.

“We only lose a couple of players, so we’ll have a real solid group coming back. Playing in the NCAAs is going to be a good thing for everyone to get them some good experience.’’

BSU defeated Salem State, 5-0, last Oct. 20 to win the Little East title and resumed practice in late March to prepare for the NCAAs. The Bears are on a nine-match winning streak.

Leading the way is junior Jenna Williamson, the Little East player of the year for a second straight season after going 13-1 in singles play and 11-4 with senior Lauren Hopp in doubles. Williamson is 24-0 against Little East competition in three seasons.

Williamson was also the most valuable player of the Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference women’s basketball tournament after helping the Bears reach the NCAA Div. 3 tournament last winter.

“She’s just been great,’’ said Gorman, the Little East coach of the year. “She’s an excellent athlete who knows how to win. She’s an excellent player who just plays so hard and leads by example.’’

Joining Williamson on the All-Little East first team were senior Ashley Pereira (No. 2 singles), freshman Alison Vautrin (No. 4), Hopp (No. 5) and sophomore Melissa Flynn (No. 6).

Pereira and senior Brittney Hislop (14-3) made the all-conference first team in doubles while the duos of Vautrin and sophomore Rachael Eramo (15-3) and Williamson and Hopp earned spots on the second team.

“I definitely thought this could be a good team this year,’’ said Gorman. “We lost in the (conference) finals, 5-4, the year before and they really stepped up this year.’’

Captains Williamson, Pereira and Hopp were part of the team that lost in the opening round of the NCAAs in the spring of 2011 to The College of New Jersey, 5-0.

BSU’s other trip to the NCAA tourney ended with a 5-0 loss to Vassar in the spring of 2008.